A Flip of a Coin
by Tidus'luvr
Summary: Arthur finds out about Merlin's magic and something happens that neither of them were prepared for. Now the two must find a way to work through their problems in order to put things right. Merthur slash. DLDR. Rating may go up. Review, but be kind!
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: So I just discovered Merlin and the slash is way too obvious not to write a fic about. So please enjoy and know that there WILL be more coming if it kills me. REVIEW!!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Merlin or the Arthurian myths, if I did, there would be some hardcore snogging on the show ;)_

**Chapter One**

It was raining. Actually it was one of those foggy days that threatens rain, but doesn't ever make good on its promise; a day where you just want to crawl back into bed and sleep until tomorrow. And Merlin was considering doing just that as he cracked open a single dry eye.

However, he knew that his royal highness would not be happy with him if he was late, or later than usual.

Sluggishly, Merlin got out of bed and dressed himself in his usual mundane attire and rubbed his eyes.

_Bloody hell, I must be getting sick. _He thought to himself, when he plopped down in on the bench to eat the small bit of porridge Gaius had prepared for him.

"You look like death warmed over Merlin." The old man said warmly. "Are you feeling ill?"

"No Gaius, I'm fine." Merlin managed to croak out, which sealed his fate, and Merlin ended up having to choke down a disgusting elixir that made him feel nothing if not a stomach ache on top of everything else.

Merlin then arrived at the prince's bedchamber, he stopped himself halfway through opening the door, and stepped back to knock.

After waiting a few seconds he opened the door only to find his majesty still fast asleep underneath mountains of down duvets and fluffy pillows.

The young warlock had only a moment to feel envious, and another moment to enjoy the sight of the attractive male before Arthur felt the presence of another being in the room with him.

"Oi, I feel ill." Were the first words out of the crowned prince's mouth. Then he clapped both hands over his face and muttered something about a servant shouldn't wake his master. Especially on such a horrid day, but Merlin wasn't really paying any mind to Arthur's ramblings.

Arthur slowly stood up and stretched his morning fatigue away, while Merlin dutifully began a half-hearted tidying of the room.

"I feel like I drank the castle out of ale." Arthur stated.

"Did you?" Merlin questioned despite knowing the answer. He would have been around if Arthur decided to get sloshed.

"Of course not." The young Pendragon snapped. "I was simply stating that's what I felt like." He added under his breath. "Idiot."

Merlin rolled his eyes as he faced his destiny and said very respectfully, though he inwardly cursed Arthur. "Can I fetch you anything my Lord? Perhaps Gaius can remedy your ailments."

Secretly Merlin wished that Arthur would suffer the same medicine that he had, but Arthur brushed him off, and said that it was nothing that an extra hour of sleep couldn't cure, and that he would be down to fetch his horse for a hunt when he felt fit to do so.

Arthur wanted to ask if he was actually planning on hunting even though the weather was dreadful, but Arthur would just pull the "You really don't know anything" face and he was SO not in the mood for that.

He was also in no mood to be mucking out stinky stables and preparing the royal steed for the hunt. But it wasn't like he had much of a choice and so Merlin bowed his head to his master and replied to his orders with, "Yes sire." and turned to leave to fulfill his duties.

Merlin was mad. He hadn't woken up in the best dispositions, and obviously Arthur hadn't either. And he was not happy to have been treated so curtly, sure Arthur had his moments of pigheadedness, but lately Merlin felt that the two of them had grown closer.

He felt that he could actually refer to Arthur as a friend, and maybe technically Arthur couldn't call him a friend based on propriety, but he had. And in those rare moments Merlin felt like he could fly.

But then there were the moments like this, when Arthur was acting the part of royal pain in the arse, and nothing made Merlin angrier than seeing his friend revert back to prat mode.

The stables were extra disgusting that morning. He wished he could go back in time to tell him from yesterday to do a thorough cleaning, so that present him didn't have to suffer the consequences of his laziness.

However, there was no way he could think of to do that, and there was also no way he could get away with a half-arsed job at mucking the stables. Not with the mood the prince was in, and especially not with the atrocious smell that was emitting from the barn.

When Merlin realized that staring at the mess wasn't going to get his job done any sooner he started in on the mucking.

A half an hour later Merlin was feeling worse than he had before and the stable was only looking worse. To make matters more dismal, a slight, but bitter drizzle had begun over Camelot. This was turning out to be one lovely day.

Of course, there was one thing Merlin could think of to make things a bit easier on him and with the abysmal weather, not many people would be out and about near the stables, which was a minimal risk for him.

Keeping a shovel in hand for show, Merlin allowed the magic to radiate from within. With a keen eye on the watch for those who might be spying, Merlin watched as his job just became that much easier.

*~*

Arthur was wrong, an hour did not even come close to helping, in fact, it may have made things worse, because on top of his sudden illness, he now felt wearied from oversleeping.

His mussed up bed looked all too comfortable, but he couldn't show weakness for a silly cold, so he sucked it up and began to dress himself for the hunt.

Arthur couldn't help but hope that the rain would start soon so that the hunt would be called off early, then he could go back to lazing about in his chambers, and order Merlin around a bit, since that always put him in a good mood.

Arthur looked menacingly at the plate of food that had been left in his room, and decided that eating it would not be a good decision and instead he headed down to the stables for his mount, which, hopefully, Merlin had prepared adequately.

Unfortunately, when he got down to the stables, Arthur got a different sight than he was hoping for.

His manservant was indeed preparing his horse. He was doing a good job too; the shovel and the bales of hay were doing well too.

Arthur wasn't really sure of what he was seeing, and for a moment he considered that he was simply sicker than he thought, and he should go back to bed.

But when the other boy looked up to see Arthur standing there, he dropped everything, including the phantom shovel.

"Prince Arthur!" Merlin exclaimed. "I-I…"

Arthur was instantly furious. "You what? You can explain to me what the hell is going on here?"

Arthur turned his back on the boy who he thought he could trust.

"I wanted to tell you, I just… I couldn't… I didn't want you to think less of me." Merlin tried to explain but failed.

"You're a sorcerer." Arthur stated.

The young prince turned back to Merlin, but couldn't bring himself to look him in the face.

"You will tell my father that I am ill, and that I cannot participate today."

As Arthur turned to leave he heard Merlin's soft voice behind him say, "What are you going to do to me?"

Arthur didn't spare him an answer and walked briskly back to his chambers.

What _was_ he going to do to Merlin?


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Thanks for all the lovely reviews!! I feel so appreciated :D Also I would like to give a special thanks to aLLiCaT225 for giving me my first review for this story ;) _

_Disclaimer: I hardly think I need one seeing as Merlin and Arthur didn't make out in episode 10…_

Arthur sat in his chambers for a time thinking. Gaius had come and given him some horrid atrocity disguised as medicine to make him better, and the old man had told him to get some rest.

But Arthur could not get himself to fall asleep.

Merlin was a sorcerer. How could he have missed it? It seemed so obvious now. All the things that had been remedied mysteriously, it was all magic.

Arthur wasn't sure if the stomach ache he was now sporting was due to the horrible elixir or because of the fact that the person he felt he could trust most had turned out to be a great enemy.

No, that wasn't true.

Merlin wasn't an enemy. And no matter what his father believed he wasn't dark and dangerous. And Merlin certainly wasn't about to perform some nefarious magic to destroy Camelot.

It was more of the fact that he hadn't noticed. That Merlin had kept this from him for so long. Why would he have kept that from him.

The answer came to Arthur quickly. Of course he wouldn't tell him. Why would he risk his life?

That just made Arthur feel worse, because he now thought that Merlin had thought so little of their friendship that he believed that he would sell him out.

He was thinking in circles.

He still didn't know what he was going to do about his new found knowledge.

On one hand, it was the law that anyone caught practicing magic was condemned to death, and as crowned prince of Camelot, it was his duty to make sure the law was upheld.

But on the other hand this was Merlin for Heaven's sake. And, though he was absolutely, unmistakably using magic, Merlin was… Merlin and he couldn't see himself turning the boy in.

Merlin had, after all saved his life, probably more often than he knew.

Arthur had finally come to what he thought was a conclusion, and was hoping that Merlin would come into his quarters to straighten up before they both retired for the day, however Morgana (who had come to check up on the invalid prince) informed him that Merlin was also ill with the same ailment that Arthur had, and that he was resting in the physicians quarters.

This put a damper on Arthur's plans. But it was probably for the best seeing that he wasn't exactly in the best state of health and he didn't want to make any rash decisions.

Finally after two days of bed rest and no trace of Merlin despite what daily visits from Gaius told of his health, Arthur was finally fit enough to return to his normal duties. And he figured that this also meant that Merlin was well enough to see him.

However, the manservant didn't come to Arthur on his own, not the first day or even the next day.

The future great king could not help but feel a bit anxious, and decided that enough was enough.

*~*

It had been 5 days since the incident where Merlin had been caught using magic, and he took it as a good sign that he was still alive.

In that thought there was a small glimmer of hope, but even that was not enough knowing that the prince had not called for his services.

But finally on that fifth day, Merlin was called to his duties and with tightness in his chest from the unknown, Merlin walked to Arthur's chambers.

He found the blonde boy already dressed and quite obviously waiting for him.

"My lord?" Merlin tried to say a benignly as possible, all though it came out like a child about to be reprimanded.

Arthur did indeed look the part of a chastising father. "You should have told me Merlin."

Merlin's eyes dropped even lower, searching out the tops of Arthur's boot clad feet in order to avoid eye contact.

"I-" Merlin began but he realized he had nothing to say, and so he cut himself off.

"How could you… You can't be." Arthur struggled with the words he thought he had. Apparently seeing the boy had brought up new and more complex thoughts on the matter at hand.

"Arthur." Merlin's use of Arthur's first name, though not unorthodox, sent Arthur reeling.

"No! You lied to me. I trusted you. I thought…" What had he thought? What was it that he had thought?

He thought Merlin was his friend; his clumsy, elfin looking friend, with big ears and a dopey smile. Someone so uninteresting, but so connected to him somehow.

Finding out that maybe he didn't know Merlin like he thought he did was a big blow that he wasn't sure how to handle.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you. You… the law." Merlin hated unfinished sentences, but somehow this conversation was full of them.

He wished once again that he could go back in time, but this time he wouldn't use magic, especially in such a risky area.

How could he have been such an idiot? Obviously his sickness had impaired his judgment but that excuse wouldn't get him out of being executed, because he was indeed using magic.

"I don't care, Merlin. I just care that you lied to me."

"So, you're not going to turn me in?"

Arthur took this into consideration, unfortunately for both the boys his mind was not as clear as it should be, and Arthur made a rash decision.

"What if I did?" He paused then began to walk out of his room, and as he did he said. "Maybe I will."

Fear coursed through Merlin's veins and he ran after Arthur, adrenaline giving him the speed to make up for his few seconds of shock.

"Arthur, no. Don't!" Arthur made no move to respond, and that was when Merlin lost control.

He suddenly felt the magic inside him well up uncontrollably. He knew this feeling, but never had it been this consuming.

He had to stop Arthur, and since words weren't working Merlin grabbed the other boys shoulder and turned him so they were facing each other.

Then something strange happened, the power inside Merlin suddenly ran unchecked. It grew more powerful by the second, and Merlin felt that he couldn't let go.

As quickly as it happened, the feeling was gone, and the two boys stand there in the corridor looking at one another.

Only, something was wrong.

_End Note: So concludes chapter 2, please review because I'm going to be stingy and not post chapter three until my review total is 10 :D_

_Click the button!!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Wow two updates in one day. I'm a beast. I seriously hope this doesn't run out. I hate that more than anything. ThiscChapter is dedicated to speechbubble who guessed what happened!! I hope you like this chapter; things are just starting to get good… I hope._

_Disclaimer: If I owned Merlin, I seriously doubt I would be writing fanfiction on it. Well actually…_

**Chapter Three **_(I think I forgot this last chapter, oops)_

It took a second for Merlin to notice the change, and the first give away was that he was now looking slightly down, at himself, and a hand was on his shoulder. No that was wrong; his hand was on his shoulder. But no, that was still wrong somehow.

He felt bulkier, taller, and more muscular. And then there was the whole thing that he was looking down at himself.

What had he done?

Arthur looked up at the devilishly handsome man in front of him; it took him a little longer than Merlin to realize that it was in fact himself that he was looking at.

He wasn't sure why he was now looking into his own eyes, or why his hand was on his own firm shoulder, and he wasn't sure where Merlin had gotten off to.

"What the devil?" The words coming out of Arthur's mouth sounded wrong, it confused him even more.

"Prince Arthur?" Merlin said tentatively. He was hoping the answer was going to no.

Unfortunately for the young warlock, the reply he got was. "Merlin?" And after a beat. "What the hell did you do? Demand that you return me back to normal."

Merlin sighed, but he didn't do as the future king commanded.

In fact he wasn't even sure if he could do what Arthur had asked of him. He didn't even know if he did it in the first place.

"I- I dunno what happened, sire." Merlin looked down at the hand that was remarkably similar to his own, still resting on the shoulder that was uncanny in resemblance to Arthurs. Quickly he looked down the hallway, he saw no one coming, luckily. He also spotted a mirror resting on the wall.

"C'mon!" He cried, and grabbed Arthur and pulled him toward the mirror.

The two stared in shock at the images the saw.

It was indeed Merlin and Arthur standing in front of the mirror, however, they were in the wrong positions, and though the Merlin in the mirror was fretfully toying with his ears, Merlin himself was looking down at his now very toned arms.

"You-you switched us!" Arthur exclaimed with a squeak in his voice. It was all very un-princely, but then again, nothing about being in Merlin's body was princely.

"I didn't mean to I swear!"

"Oh of course you didn't!" came Arthur's sarcastic response. "I look terrible."

"Hey!" Merlin whined, he found that whining with Arthur's voice sounded quite suitable. "That's me you're talking about."

"Well _you _look fine. I look like-like a manservant."

"Funny I think that every day, until I realize that I _am_ a man servant." Merlin crossed Arthur's arms, and pouted. He found that pouting was most becoming of Arthur's face.

Although Arthur didn't. "Don't pout like that; you'll make me look like an idiot." Arthur looked once more at his hideously incorrect face and did the first thing that came to mind.

"I am going to kill you Merlin. I'll do it myself, with my own bare hands. I swear."

Merlin managed to look stunned for a moment. "Sire, I'm sure I can fix this. I really am. You just have to trust me."

Arthur gave the warlock an incredulous look. "Trust you? After you turned me into a newt?"

Merlin decided not to take the last comment to heart. "Look, I know it looks bad, but if I did this then I should easily be able to fix it."

The two had decided to go back to Gaius's chambers to try to figure out a spell when Morgana, closely followed by Gwen, approached them with fire in her eyes.

"Arthur." She demanded "Where were you this morning? Your father is furious that you didn't show up to the banquet."

Merlin looked at Arthur who looked back at Merlin who looked to Morgana and said with absolutely no confidence at all. "I was, erm, ill."

Morgana gave him a stern look, and then as if noticing some sort of change she cocked her head slightly. Figuring that it was due to his alleged illness Morgana nodded and bade them goodbye.

"Well that was close." Merlin piped up.

Arthur simply slapped the back of his head and walked on to Gaius's quarters.

*~*

"Did you find anything yet?" Arthur whined from the chair he was casually slumped in.

"Not since four seconds ago when you asked me last." Merlin replied patiently. He had been searching through his book of magic for an hour and found nothing about a spell that could swap bodies.

And unfortunately none of the spells in the book had any sort of counter measure that came even close.

Another problem they had run into was when Merlin had come across a sort of "put it right" spell.

When he muttered the words, nothing happened. It was as if he was just speaking of apples and oranges, not saying words of the old religion.

"This isn't working." Arthur complained.

"Yeah, I noticed." Merlin rolled his eyes. "The thing is that even if this particular spell didn't do anything to put us right, it should have at least had an effect on my room."

Arthur lifted his head and took in the very out of place clothes. "I don't think magic could even clean your room Merlin."

"It's weird, usually I can feel it." He paused. "The magic that is. And if I say any magical words I can sense the magic within me, even if the spell doesn't work." He explained all the while thinking back to the instance with Knight Valiant's shield and the dog statue. "But now, it's like I have no magic at all."

Arthur sighed. "This isn't looking good is it?"

But Merlin refused to believe that he didn't have his magic anymore. That would be ridiculous. Where would it have gone?

Arthur stood up and walked over to Merlin. "Did you look through the whole book?"

Merlin groaned. "It's a very big book."

"Yes but I doubt I can stand being you for another moment."

"And I doubt that I'll be able to fix this with you nagging me." Merlin roughly shut the book of magic causing a large puff of dust to emanate through the air.

Arthur, the perfect prince that he was, managed an entirely ungraceful sneeze, placing his hands in front of his nose just in time to burn himself on the flames that were created.

"Well I think I know where my magic's gone."

_Author's Note: I'm really hoping more slash comes into play soon! But they're just so darn stubborn and won't admit their feelings. Oh well. Review please, and no promises but more story when the reviews hit 18… don't ask about the number =P_

_3_


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: I'm not too sure about this chapter, because it's sort of a filler chapter. I swear it'll get better. Special thanks to SmithsonianGirl for her super chunky review._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, and I probably never will, unless I marry a really ridiculously rich man and I can buy out BBC, then I promise there will be slash… But until that happens, I'll keep writing._

**Chapter Four**

Merlin and Arthur stood in the physician's room for a while, wondering what the hell they were going to do. Of course the two displaced boys had different opinions on how to handle the situation at hand.

Arthur was furious. Not only was he now in the body of his _manservant_ but he also was not in possession of some very illegal powers. Arthur wanted to punish Merlin to no end. However, that was easier said than done, given the circumstances.

Merlin was trying to come up with a more logical solution. He had hoped that the prince would be a least slightly cooperative, but he refused to even try to say the spell. He claimed that he was not a sorcerer and would not stoop to the level of one just because he happened to be in a position where magic was at his disposal.

The young sorcerer wanted to scream at his master. But of course that would solve nothing.

And unfortunately if they were going to be stuck the way they were for a while; a few things needed to be solved.

"Merlin stop slouching, princes do not slouch." Arthur complained pressing his hand on Merlin's lower back and shoulders to push the other boy upright.

Merlin, do not bite my nails, please." Arthur instructed. "And stop tapping my foot! It is most aggravating."

Merlin put the princely hand down onto his lap, but continued to tap his foot. "Arthur?"

Arthur looked daggers at him.

"Er, my Lord?" Merlin continued looking over at the prince, and couldn't help but think that he was a lot skinnier than he thought he was.

"Yes Merlin?" Arthur was done; he was so fed up with everything. The magic, the tapping, the talking and of course Merlin's blasted body! He just wanted to wake up from the horrid nightmare that he was having.

But that of course didn't happen.

"Could you put down that pot?"

The prince looked at Merlin like he had gone mad, which was very likely, Arthur himself was on his way. "I'm not holding any pot stupid."

Merlin looked slightly worried. "Erm, no I suppose not…" He trailed off and looked behind the prince, so Arthur had to follow the train of his eyes only to see a pot levitating in the middle of the room.

"I am not doing that." He argued though as soon as he said it, the pot dropped with an enormous clatter.

"I beg to differ."

Arthur was getting so fed up with Merlin's insubordinate behavior and he wished for nothing more than to throw him in the stocks.

Alas, he couldn't because throwing Merlin in the stocks would look a lot like Arthur being thrown in the stocks, and that would not exactly be the best idea. So he would just have to wait until they were back to normal, and he would give Merlin the punishment he deserves… or he would turn him in. He still hadn't decided.

"I am not using magic." Arthur finished. He thought he sounded quite sure of himself, despite being almost sure that he was accidentally using it.

"Maybe not on purpose, sire." Merlin thought back to when he was younger and couldn't control his magic. Strange things would happen, like things would float, or explode. "You need to learn how to control it."

Arthur paused for a moment. The thought of it put a bad taste in his mouth, but the risk of him getting caught as Merlin was probably a worse fate.

"I don't think I can do it."

"You have to, sire." Merlin tried to give a courageous smile. "And maybe if you get it down we can put us right."

Arthur was about to respond when the front door opened.

"Prince Arthur!" Gaius greeted, bowing low to Merlin.

The two boys looked wide eyed at the old man. Surely he would notice that the crowned prince of Camelot was sifting through a book of magic, while his man servant was lounging about by the fire.

"What brings you here?" Gaius looked expectantly at Merlin.

"Erm, I have a headache." Which wasn't entirely a falsehood, a slight twinge had begun between his eyes.

"Do you think your illness has returned?" The physician looked concerned.

"No!" Merlin responded quickly. "No, I just think it's a minor headache. Nothing related."

Gaius took a suspicious glance at the two boys then cooked up a quick remedy and gave it to Merlin.

"Well you best be on your way then."

Arthur stood up and began to walk to the door.

"Wait, Merlin, I need you here to run some errands for me. That is of course if Prince Arthur can spare you."

Merlin let a sly smile cross his face. He let himself picture Arthur in the market place picking up ingredients, or delivering medicines. It was indeed a comical sight. Although, there was the risk that Arthur would somehow mess up, and expose them, and then Merlin would be killed. But too see Arthur being treated as a commoner? It was definitely worth the risk.

"Of course not Gaius, he's all yours."

_Author's Note: Next update will be either Sunday night or Monday._


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's Note: This is late and crappy and short and I have excuses but I shalln't bore you with them. Chapter is dedicated to Caitlyn, because I saw her for the last time until November today._

**Chapter Five**

Arthur had to admit, picking out ingredients was not exactly the worst possible way to spend his day. He wasn't an idiot and finding what Gaius had written down was quite simple.

However the small detail of having the appearance of being a scrawny manservant was definitely putting a damper on his activities.

Of course he would never confess to finding shopping for the court physician slightly relaxing, because Arthur Pendragon enjoys killing harmless animals, and beating the shit out of his comrades. But he did have to acknowledge that maybe it was less distasteful than he anticipated.

That was of course until he was walking, with some strange root in hand, towards a house to deliver a salve, he suddenly tripped.

At first Arthur thought that Merlin's clumsiness must stem from his unusually large feet, because surely princes do NOT trip, then he noticed a pair of boots from his place on the ground.

So needless to say, Arthur was two seconds away from going completely berserk on whoever was the owner of said boot. Luckily he realized just in time that 1. He was no longer the prince who could easily have the rude arse thrown into the stocks. 2. Whoever owned the shoe was now picking him up by his neckerchief, and he was a lot bigger than Arthur (even if he had been in the right body).

The monstrosity that had tripped him had brought Arthur up to look him in the hideous face.

"I thought I told you to watch where you are going, _Merlin_." The monster as it was now more clear to Arthur, was a young man maybe two years older than himself, and he spat Merlin's name like it was an insult, and frankly Arthur _was_ insulted.

But of course, the prince of Camelot was not going to stand for that, especially since he had been purposefully tripped.

"Are you joking? You intentionally stuck your foot out!" Arthur couldn't help let his voice go up a few octaves, he was made at this lummox, and he tended to get irate when being held up by a neck scarf.

The lout in question decided, since his target was obviously no match for him that it was okay to let out a horrid bark of a laugh. "And what are you going to do about it?"

For this Arthur had no quick response, and his foe took that as a sign of weakness.

"That's what I thought."

What happened next was kind of a blur.

First, the yob unceremoniously dropped Arthur to the ground, landing one swift kick in his shoulder as he did.

Then when Arthur was mumbling curses under his breath, his tormenter decided it was okay to take the root he had acquired and smash it.

This caused Arthur to finally snap. Not because of the root, per say, but because this cad was pushing him, and no one got away with pushing Arthur.

Instinctively the prince grabbed for his sword and found none, so instead he used the next best thing: his fist.

After a few lame punches, due to Merlin's body's lack of any substantial muscle, the bully began to laugh, and punched Arthur once, sending him sprawling on the ground once more.

"You _will_ pay for this." Arthur looked up at the laughing face, and tried to put as much venom in his voice as he possibly could.

"Oh? And how are you going to make me?" The big oaf leaned down and sneered. "Are you going to get your bum chum prince to do me in?" Then he muttered something along the lines of "Disgusting faggot." And began to walk away, contented with his bullying.

_Author's Note: Basically this is the sad love child of writer's block and stress… no promises on the next chapter… although I don't have much to do next week. 3_


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